Mexico Week 32 -- Miracles

To my dear eternal family :)

How are you all?  Missing me but surviving right?  Ha! Ha! Love you guys tons! 

Did you know that my mission is officially half way over? I hit 9 months this week...that is beyond crazy. 

First things first, funny story. Remember my four year old twins that are to die for? We were leaving the other night and they always hug us and give us a kiss on the cheek (typical Mexican thing). I say ¨Leilani, ya nos vamos, donde está mi besito?¨She answers me ¨Ven pues¨! Ha! Ha! That’s like, “Well, come over here then”!  I was laughing so hard and her mom just puts her face in her hands. Definitely a good laugh for the day. 

We were working this week and the zone leaders call us, ¨Hermanas are you busy¨?  We were with a member, had some really important appointments and I’m kind of feeling sarcastic, so I say ¨What time is it? Before 9? Obviously we’re a little busy¨!  They tell us we have to go to the bus station and pick up some hermanas that needed to stay with us.  So we went and picked them up. Slight problem, I’m not in Cruz del Sur anymore and our house isn’t well equipped for visitors. Good thing I bought that Frozen blanket because I rocked the cold tile for the night!

A little shout out to Emma Gathro, whoa that’s weird! I got a letter and birthday card from her this week and I LOVE the roommate pic that she sent me.  Sister Cohen is also the sweetest and I received about the third letter from her this week. She’s the best! 

We had our zone meeting this week, and these are the other Hermanas in our zone! Hermana Castillo. She got here when I did, but she has been on the other side of the mission this whole time. She is adorable. Hermana Sanches: also the sweetest. She goes home in December but she is a doll! 

Now for some miracles! This is our single mom! Remember her? She sleeps about three hours a day and works nights. We haven’t seen her for a bit because she said she had family in town.  We visited her a ton this week!  We got to her house after teaching the Restoration and ask her if she did her homework. “Of course!”, she says, “I read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and it mentioned a scripture in Moroni and so I went there and read and then prayed. I’m not sure when the answer comes but I know it will.”  We start talking about the spirit and how she can recognize her answer and we teach her about prophets.  She says ¨Hermanas, I know the conference will be really special tomorrow and that I will receive so many blessings for going.¨ Poor thing, she worked Saturday night, and it was a rough night, and she was trying so hard to stay awake during conference. Her daughters were with a friend, and after conference, she just sat there for a minute. She was so quiet!! We were like ¨soooo, how’d it go? How do you feel?” She says, I’m just thinking about so many things right now.”  Good things, we hope!  She kind of smiles and says yes. She said that she just really liked what they said. We are visiting her tonight and we’ll see if she opens up a bit more!! 

I know that she was our miracle for the week and that we will keep seeing miracles in her. I know that our Father in Heaven loves her and has prepared her so much! Wow, I never seen somebody like her before. I know that there are more people like her and we just have to work so hard, so diligently, so that we can find them! 

I loved General Conference. I can’t even pick a talk because I loved them all too much. Every single talk that mentioned the family, especially Elder L. Tom Perry, really hit me. I realized that things I’m learning aren’t just for my mission. I received a powerful testimony that Heavenly Father is preparing me to be a mom and wife. He is going to send me some pretty special spirits and I have to be ready for them. My understanding and application of the Atonement is going to be so important for my future family. I also loved Elder Holland´s talk too.  I know so many ¨poor¨ people and we are called to rescue, we are called to support and as President Monson said, we are called to represent Christ, to walk as He did. I love how this conference focused on changes. We are on this earth to change and become. Everyone comes with their faults and shortcomings and weaknesses...we are here to grow. We need not be discouraged because we aren’t the best! Ha! Ha! I have met so many people who just get down and say they can’t.  Or get discouraged because they feel they have too many changes to make.  That is NOT the message of this life or of Jesus Christ. The message is that we all to change and with Him it’s possible and fulfilling. It is so desperately and urgently important that we understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Last little thought from conference. I loved that Sister Esplin talked about the sacrament. She mentioned a young woman who quickly got discouraged because as she thought about how she needed to improve, she become discouraged because she was making the same mistakes every week.  Ding! Ding! That is so me sometimes!  She mentioned that the sacrament is also for realizing how we grew, how the Lord helped us to change, how He strengthened us and helped us to do good in the week.  This was revolutionary for me! Wow! It’s true. The sacrament is also a time to reflect on how the Lord has changed us, not only how He can change us. Good stuff. 

I love you all. This is the Church of Jesus Christ and the apostles and prophets are representatives of Jesus Christ. This is His Church and He is at the head. We need to bring these blessings to EVERYONE! But in order to do that, our own faith and conviction in Jesus Christ needs to grow. Love you to the moon and back! Be good!